Diary: Win a copy of David Earnhardt's Documentary "Eternal Vigilance"!

Win a copy of David Earnhardt's documentary Eternal Vigilance!
Frankly, I'm pooped. Holding myself together to deal with what I felt certain to be another Republican victory apparently took an enormous amount of psychic energy. I didn't realize just how much until afterwards. I find myself absolutely exhausted. My unprecedented literary productivity - six pieces in seven days in the week before the election - surely had something to do with it as well. Dealing with the aftermath - people see the Democratic 'victory' as somehow vindication that the system works - is bittersweet, at best. Sorry, folks. Bad news. The system does not work. We need to fix it. With all due speed (2008 is looming), but without rushing headlong into something we'll later regret. Just look at HAVA and what it's done to us in four short years. Undoing that mess will not be easy. But, that's a topic for another article.

The Illinois Ballot Integrity Project brought in veteran moviemaker David Earnhardt last week for a screening of his documentary Eternal Vigilance: The Fight to Save Our Election System. I first saw the film in Cleveland this fall at the We Count 2006 Conference. The movie follows the evolving voting integrity movement after the 2004 election, chiefly focusing on the National Election Reform Conference in Nashville, Tennessee in April 2005. The quest for election integrity is shown as part of a larger picture including other citizens' rights movements through our history - Civil Rights, and women's fight to get the vote, among others. Feel free to read my review. My opinion hasn't changed. http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_joan_bru_061102_eternal_vigilance_3a_t.htm

I was happy David was coming and happier still that he was considerate enough to wedge himself in between my son's four basketball games that week, not an easy feat. I had offered to put him up if he came to Chicago, and was delighted with the opportunity to follow through on that promise.

The screening, held at a local public library, ended with a lively discussion, and was followed by even more talking at the coffee shop where a number of us ended up. Once we finally arrived home, we stayed up talking until 12:30 in the morning over scrambled eggs and wine. I only wish that he had been stranded at my house rather than the airport the next morning while he waited for the city to dig out of its first snowstorm. I have a feeling we could have filled the hours with ease.

One of the things we discussed was ways to get the word out about his DVD and the broader topic that it addresses, namely the urgent need for election reform. He was familiar with my Invisible Ballots lending library project and I told him about the contest we ran last winter. We gave away DVDs to voting activists who wrote to tell us what they would do with their copy. He offered me 10 DVDs for the same purpose.

Here's your chance. Write me at OpEdNews (joan@opednews.com) and let me know why you want the DVD and what you'll do with it. Include your snail mail address (which I will not post). The first 10 people who merit a copy will have their comments posted on the open thread of this diary, our motive to stimulate interest in the subject and in the movie. Earnhardt's website is www.EternalVigilance.US in case you want additional copies or you aren't one of the lucky winners.

Citizen activists are the heroes of Earnhardt's movie. And there are three more election heroes who have been in the news of late. Stephen Heller is the whistleblower who exposed Diebold's defrauding of the State of California and was indicted on three felony counts for his trouble. In order to spare his family from bankruptcy, he recently entered a plea bargain. I can't wait to hear all the details, which Heller will be posting very soon. Luckily, the plea agreement does not prevent him from telling his story. It will be full of disturbing and sordid details, I'm quite sure.

Bruce Funk, former County Clerk of Emery County, Utah, invited the wrath of Diebold and state officials when he offered Black Box Voting a chance to examine the electronic voting machines used in his county. For his pains, he was locked out of his office, his advice ignored and railroaded out of a job.

Ion Sancho, Mr. Funk's counterpart in Leon County, Florida, would have found himself in the same predicament as Mr. Funk if not for a supportive board and concerned citizens. He still uses his position to battle on behalf of his voters.

It takes a lot to be a patriot these days. Going the extra mile with no help at all from a silent press and absentee political leadership is not easy. The opposition is playing hardball and they have very deep pockets. Almost four billion (that's a lot of zeroes) of your tax dollars have already disappeared into the pockets of the electronic voting machine vendors. And what have we got? In Sarasota, Florida, 18,000 votes for a congressional race went missing and there's no way to recount on paperless machines. If control of the Senate had depended on the outcome of Virginia's race, we would have been in deep doo-doo. They also use primarily DREs with no paper record of the voter's intent. And so forth and so on. Clearly, he who controls the counting of the votes controls the direction our country takes. There's a lot at stake.

But, then again, democracy is not a spectator sport. It's more akin to a touch football game played in lousy weather- in a word, very messy. Don't wear your best duds. I can guarantee that you'll get dirty. But, can you think of a better place to pour your energies? Whatever your agenda - ending the war in Iraq, minimum wage, global warming, removing the stranglehold of corporations, women's reproductive rights, whatever - all are affected by election integrity. If you can't yank representatives who don't truly represent you and your views, then what have you got? That's not any democracy that I've ever seen.

Watch this documentary and get energized and get active. I look forward to hearing from you. I also have a few copies of Cheated!, the graphic account of Ohio 2004 by Sheri Myers and illustrated by Sophie Goldstein. You'll need to write something about your intentions in order to 'win' Cheated!, but I also have bushels full of Invisible Ballots that need a home. All you need to do is ask. Multiple copies can be yours. Consider sending them to your local libraries, universities, schools, community centers, youth groups, and/or senior centers. I'm up for suggestions. Give them to your local news media, ask them to air it on public access television, send copies to your elected officials. Each copy will be accompanied by my article E-Voting in the Trenches, the chronology of e-developments in the two years since the DVD was issued. I'll look forward to hearing from you. May the contest begin!